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Biggles Goes to School/plot
Foreword Johns explains that the book has been written to satisfy requests from many readers who wanted to know something of Biggles' schooldays. He emphasises that the events described in the subsequent chapters are the more outstanding incidents of the period when Biggles was new to school life. Such episodes are not everyday affairs but exceptions to the rule and departures from the ordinary monotony of a school day. Johns also stresses that Biggles' school years were a very different time. Vehicles were still rare. "The telephone was still a modern wonder". Biggles had not seen an aeroplane until he arrived at Malton Hall School. Chapter I: Enter Biggles Biggles arrives at Malton Hall School and is interviewed by Colonel Horace Chase, M.A., the Headmaster. This chapter is a scene-setting account which serves to provide much background information about Biggles' family. Headmaster Chase assigns Biggles to the Fourth Form and sends him to report to Monsieur Bougade, the French master. Chase also warns Biggles that he might find some of the boys "a bit rough" and so he must learn to take care of himself. Chapter II: Tricked On the way to his class, someone wraps his hands around Biggles' eyes and then runs off laughing. Thinking nothing of it, Biggles reports to Bougade, only to find the class tittering at him and the French master somehow angry with him for playing the fool. He sends Biggles to the Headmaster with a note. The Headmaster doesn't clarify matters and merely says he will accept Biggles' ignorance as an excuse and sends him to the wash-room. There all becomes clear--there are rings of soot around his eyes! In the wash-room, Biggles meets a classmate, [[Smith tertius]]. He tells Biggles his assailant is Hervey, a school bully who picks on new arrivals and the younger pupils. Smith calls Hervey a cad but is unfortunately overheard by Hervey who enters just then. Hervey moves to manhandle Smith. Biggles tells him to leave Smith alone and a scuffle breaks out. This is stopped by the school captain Jack Smalley, who sends Hervey away. But Hervey is not done tricking Biggles. Later that day, Hervey offers him a bag of monkey-nuts and then throws a lot of shells under Biggles' desk, causing Biggles to be reprimanded by Mr Bruce, the form master. Chapter III: Biggles Hits Back Biggles settles down in school. During that time, he also befriends a woman in the town, Mrs Grant. Her garden had a cave set in a cliff which Biggles decides would be a useful hiding place from Hervey. Biggles and Smith soon become regular visitors of Mrs Grant for apples, cakes and tea. Meanwhile, Biggles and Smith decide they must hit back at Hervey. Their first plan involves painting a cannonball (bought from a curio shop) to look like a tennis ball and leave it on the ground, a tempting target for a good kick. Unfortunately, it's Mr Bruce who first comes along and kicks the ball--and ends up limping for a week. Their next plan is more successful--they arm themselves with sticks and use them to beat Hervey and his sidekick Brickwell. They also co-opt fellow victims who support the assault by showering the bullies with a barrage of conkers. This becomes known as "the Battle of the Conkers". After this, Hervey and Brickwell leave Biggles and Smith alone. Chapter IV: A Day to Remember The saturday after the fight with Hervey, Morris, a former student, and now a Lieutenant in the R.F.C. visits the school in his aircraft. Biggles is enthralled to see a flying machine for the first time and decides that he would like to become a pilot. Later, there is pandemonium in the town when a dancing bear becomes separated from its master and begins roam freely out of control. The students are in a panic, and many of the townspeople come out with their guns with the intention to shoot it. But Biggles, coming from India, thinks he knows what to do. After buying a few stale buns, he cautiously approaches the bear and feeds it. As the bear gains confidence in him, he is able to take the chain and pole and lead it through the town. Headmaster Chase approaches with a rifle and wants Biggles to let the bear go but Biggles assures him that the animal is harmless. He sings a Hindi song and the bear stands on its hind legs and begins dancing and draws applause from the crowd. The bear is eventually reunited with its grateful Indian master. Meanwhile Biggles is acclaimed a hero by all. In the evening the Headmaster announces that Morris was killed shortly after his visit to the school. He had taken off and had lost control shortly thereafter, crashing into a wood. Despite this sobering news, Biggles is still determined to go up in a plane if he can. Chapter V: The Field Day As a student at Malton Hall, Biggles is obliged to join its Officer Training Corps as a cadet. He finds the regular parades and drills are boring but then the unit gets a chance to take part in a field exercise with the local territorial units. Biggles and his fellow students form part of Blue Force, whose mission is to interdict an enemy convoy heading from Hertbury to Wanton. As the Headmaster had been stressing the importance of initiative, Biggles decides to put this into practice when he spots the convoy: a lone horse drawn wagon driven by one Colour Sergeant Buckle. Biggles and Smith decide to capture the convoy by themselves. Smith hides and cries for help. While the Colour Sergeant gets off the wagon to investigate, Biggles hijacks the vehicle, drives it off and hides it in a barn. The troops and some of the umpires are none too happy about this because the set piece exercise cannot continue without the wagon, but General Cauldwell from the War Office thinks otherwise. He tells Headmaster Chase that Biggles should go far, unless, as seems likely, he gets killed early in his career. Nonetheless, the negative reaction of most of the other officers convinces Biggles that he is not cut out for the army. Chapter VI: All the Fun of the Fair A fair comes to town and Smith persuades Biggles to go. A games stall offers a half-crown prize for knocking down five teeth set inside the mouth of a grinning face. It's a penny for three balls. After a few tries, Biggles something strange: although he did squarely strike two teeth with a ball, one of the teeth seemed to spring back into place. One more try and Biggles sends all five teeth down but the stallholder quickly resets the teeth and claims he only got four. Biggles protests and the spectators support him but the stallholder stands firm. Just then, Colour Sergeant Buckle steps forward. He has seen the whole thing and he insists that the stallholder paid up, which he does so reluctantly. Thus the affair might have ended. But now two more soldiers, men from the 17th Lancers, turn up and offer their support to the colour sergeant. The stallholder unwisely insults the soldiers and a riot breaks out. The police come to the school to investigate. Mr Bruce had seen Biggles and Smith at the scene so they are called up by the headmaster. However, Chase lets the event pass, seemingly delighted with the part the soldiers had played. "You can always rely on the army to do the right thing," he tells Biggles. Chapter VII: "One Good Turn ..." Biggles and Smith visit their friend Mrs Grant and find her distressed and upset. The police have arrested her sister Vera on suspicion of having stolen her employer's diamond ring. On hearing that Vera at "The Garth", the house of Major Travers, Biggles suddenly remembers something. A few days before, he and Smith had crawled into garden at the Garth to avoid Hervey and Brickwell. There Biggles saw a jackdaw on a tree with something shiny in its beak. Biggles has a flash of inspiration and rushes to the Garth. Climbing the tree, he recovers the ring and manages to secure Vera's release as well as a nice box of chocolates from the grateful Major. More importantly, Biggles has the satisfaction of repaying a debt of gratitude to Mrs Grant. Chapter VIII: The Treasure Trail Biggles and Smith meet a roadman, Farrow, who shows them a silver coin he found near the ruins of an old abbey. Smith believes there could be treasure in that field where the ruined abbey stands and persuades Biggles to go on a treasure hunt. They draw up their own map (since all treasure hunters need one) and arbitrarily put an X on a spot near a tree. They then start digging but not for long. Grummit, the farmer, who owns the land, comes by and chases them off. He wants them to hand over the map which, of course, they refuse. The next day, Biggles and Smith are astonished to see hundreds of townspeople at the field digging holes everywhere. Somehow Grummit had leaked the rumour. The newspapers reported it and, over the next few days, the crowd of diggers grow, with people from the surrounding region converging on the field. Even the Home Office and the British Museum send representatives in case anything is found. Eventually, Biggles has to tell the Headmaster how it all began and the truth comes out. The crestfallen diggers all depart hurriedly, leaving Grummit's field pockmarked with holes. Biggles and Smith, of course, feel that they are not to be blamed. Serves the claim-jumpers right. Even so, they are distinctly unpopular in the town for some time thereafter. Chapter IX: The Chestnut Wood The first part of this chapter narrates an interlude where Biggles stuffs a squid into a hole in Mr Bruce's door. However he makes the mistake of repeating his successful venture with fireworks too soon and too often. He is caught red-handed on his second attempt and is caned by the headmaster. Later, Smith persuades Biggles to go chestnutting. As most of the nearby locales had been picked clean, Smith suggests Foxley Wood, a private property some distance from town. On the appointed day, Smith is sick so Biggles decides to go alone. In the wood, Biggles does indeed find chestnuts but is surprised to come across a pheasant in a snare. Soon after, he is forced to hide when he hears people approaching. It's Hervey and Brickwell carrying a sack! They begin to release the pheasant from the snare but run off when they hear another person approaching. This time, its Samuel Barnes, the gamekeeper in charge of the wood and he goes off in pursuit of the intruders. Biggles waits for Barnes to go off and then releases the pheasant before leaving the wood as stealthily as he can. On the way back to school, Biggles is surprised to see Hervey and Brickwell also moving stealthily on the road. He follows them to the shop of Jeremiah Siggins, the local butcher. Biggles hears the chink of money, which confirms that Hervey and Brickwell sold some pheasants to Siggins. Chapter X: On the Mat The next day, the Headmaster announces to the school that some boys had been in Foxley Wood and asks the miscreants to own up. No one does but the Head calls Biggles forward anyway. Biggles is forced to confess that he was there, but he was alone and was chestnuting. He admits to seeing Smauel Barnes but remains silent when asked if he saw anyone else. The Head asks for the two others to own up but Hervey and Brickwell do not come forward. At the request of Sir Colin Markland, the rest of the school is dismissed so that he can speak to Biggles alone. He believes Biggles' account. He isn't going to ask Biggles to sneak but asks that he warn the two and that, he thinks, will put an end to the poaching. However Biggles has a doubt. He had counted 47 pheasants. Sir Colin had put down a hundred a month ago. The two boys couldn't have killed more than 50 pheasants! Biggles goes, on Sir Colin's instructions, to apologise to Barnes. The session turns out better than he expected. Barnes believes Biggles, and is also impressed that Biggles knows about gamekeeping, how he offered an accurate count of the pheasants and could warn him of threats like a stoat in the wood. Biggles offers to help Barnes watch the wood and Barnes appoints him an "under-keeper". Biggles is delighted at making a new friend at a time when he badly needs one. Chapter XI: Dark Doings One Saturday morning Biggles sets off for Foxley Wood to take up his duties. He is preoccupied with Hervey and Brickwell and so is very surprised, when at the edge of the woods, he hears two shots and sees Mick Dunnage, a notorious local ruffian come out. Dunnage bashes the head of a pheasant against a post to kill it and stuffs it into his jacket. He then stuffs a folding rifle into his trousers and walks off. Back in school, Biggles confronts Hervey and Brickwell. They confess that they had been stealing pheasants from the snares but they had not set the snares. Dunnage had set the snares--they had seen him. And they had not been near the wood since. Chapter XII: Tragic News The next day comes tragic news that Sam Barnes had been shot. Biggles runs to the police station to report that Dunnage had done it. But the P.C. Grimble and the others do not believe him. Dunnage had an alibi provided by Siggins. Before leaving, Biggles does manage to persuade the police to tell him what kind of bullet had killed Barnes: a .44. On the way back to school, Biggles sees Siggins and Dunnage and has an idea. After Siggins had parted from Dunnage and gone to his shop, Biggles goes there manages to buy a pheasant off the butcher. Back at the dorm, he and Smith get up in the middle of the night to dissect the bird but are caught by the Headmaster. Biggles explains that he is looking for the bullet. It's a .44, same as what killed Barnes. This helps prove Dunnage killed Barnes. After all, this bird had its head beaten to a pulp. Biggles had seen Dunnage smash his pheasant's head against a post. Biggles wants to find Dunnage's rifle and he thinks he knows how. The Head is reluctant to have his boys involved but he tells them that a terrible crime had been committed. They have a duty to do all they can in the cause of justice. He gives the two boys have the next day off to pursue the case. Chapter XIII: On the Trail Dunnage wore boots with a distinctive hobnail pattern and Biggles has no difficulty picking up his trail from Foxley Wood. They follow it past a pond. This might be an ideal hiding place so Biggles steps in and indeed finds the rifle. But what to do next? It's best to put it back and wait for Dunnage to come and recover the weapon and then follow him: catching him with the rifle in hand would be conclusive evidence. They do not have long to wait. Just as Biggles and Smith are leaving the pond, they meet Dunnage. From hiding, they see Dunnage retrieve the rifle and head for Foxley Wood. Biggles follows and sends Smith to warn the Head. Help is a long time coming but finally Biggles sees P.C. Grimble coming towards the wood. He runs forward and advises the constable to hide. Dunnage is armed, so it is probably best to ambush Dunnage and take him by surprise. Grimble accepts this advice and springs out from the hedges just as Dunnage is passing and demands to search his pockets. Dunnage resists and a scuffle ensues. Dunnage manages to break free, produce his rifle and knocks Grimble on the head. He warns Biggles he will get him for what he has done and runs off towards Foxley Wood. Grimble follows Dunnage and asks Biggles and Smith to get help from the police station. Chapter XIV: Retribution Biggles was confident the police would soon catch Dunnage but the days pass and he still manages to elude his pursuers. After a few weeks, Hervey and Brickwell, now on better terms with Biggles, ask where he and Smith used to hide from them. Biggles and Smith agree to show them the cave in Mrs Grant's garden. Approaching the cave, Biggles stops dead when he notices a familiar bootprint: Dunnage is or was using the cave! Brickwell and Smith offer to go alert the police while Biggles and Hervey keep watch over the cave entrance from the golf links on the plateau above. The police arrive and surround the cave and call to Dunnage to surrender but there is no answer. Then Biggles notices something below him. Dunnage is near him, prone on the grass taking aim with his rifle! There must be another exit to the cave! Driven more by self-preservation than anything else, Biggles pushes a large rock down onto Dunnage to warn the police. It works. Dunnage sees the rock coming and steps aside. The police spot him and after another scuffle, manage to handcuff him. He is later tried and sentence for the murder of Barnes which Siggins fetches a long prison sentence as an accomplice. For Biggles, he is just glad to be able to return to school with an easy mind. Category:Plot summaries